As most of the unhappiness in the world arises rather from disappointed desires than from positive evil, it is of the utmost consequence to attain just notions of the laws and order of the universe, that we may not vex ourselves with fruitless wishes, or give way to groundless and unreasonable discontent.  The laws of natural philosophy, indeed, are tolerably understood and attended to; and though we may suffer inconveniences, we are seldom disappointed in consequence of them.  No man expects to preserve orange-trees in the open air through an English winter; or when he has planted an acorn, to see it become a large oak in a few months.  The mind of man naturally yields to necessity; and our wishes soon subside when we see the impossibility of their being gratified.

Now, upon an accurate inspection, we shall find in the moral government of the world, and the order of the intellectual system, laws as determinate, fixed, and invariable as any in Newton’s ‘Principia.’  The progress of vegetation is not more certain than the growth of habit; nor is the power of attraction more clearly proved than the force of affection or the influence of example.  The man, therefore, who has well studied the operations of nature in mind as well as matter, will acquire a certain moderation and equity in his claims upon Providence.  He never will be disappointed either in himself or others.  He will act with precision; and expect that effect and that alone, from his efforts, which they are naturally adapted to produce.

For want of this, men of merit and integrity often censure the dispositions of Providence for suffering characters they despise to run away with advantages which, they yet know, are purchased by such means as a high and noble spirit could never submit to.  If you refuse to pay the price, why expect the purchase?  We should consider this world as a great mart of commerce, where fortune exposes to our view various commodities,—­riches, ease, tranquillity, fame, integrity, knowledge.  Everything is marked at a settled price.  Our time, our labor, our ingenuity, is so much ready money which we are to lay out to the best advantage.  Examine, compare, choose, reject; but stand to your own judgment:  and do not, like children, when you have purchased one thing, repine that you do not possess another which you did not purchase.  Such is the force of well-regulated industry, that a steady and vigorous exertion of our faculties, directed to one end, will generally insure success.

Would you, for instance, be rich:  Do you think that single point worth the sacrificing everything else to?  You may then be rich.  Thousands have become so from the lowest beginnings, by toil, and patient diligence, and attention to the minutest article of expense and profit.  But you must give up the pleasures of leisure, of a vacant mind, of a free, unsuspicious temper.  If you preserve your integrity, it must be a coarse-spun and vulgar honesty.